Apple has announced the M2 Pro and M2 Max, two new SoCs (systems on a chip) that will take the power-efficient performance of Apple silicon to new heights. The M2 Pro and M2 Max will be used in the new Mac mini and MacBook Pro laptops, respectively.
The M2 Pro is built using a second-generation 5-nanometer process technology and consists of 40 billion transistors, nearly 20% more than the M1 Pro, and double the amount in M2. It features a 12-core CPU, a 19-core GPU, and up to 32GB of fast unified memory. The M2 Pro will also be available in the Mac mini for the first time, offering pro performance to this device.
The M2 Max, on the other hand, is even more powerful and efficient, with 67 billion transistors, 10 billion more than the M1 Max, and more than 3x that of the M2. It features a 12-core CPU, a 38-core GPU, and up to 96GB of fast unified memory. With 400GB/s of unified memory bandwidth, it is 4x that of the M2 and supports up to 96GB of fast unified memory. The M2 Max is the most powerful and efficient chip for a pro laptop.
Both the M2 Pro and M2 Max also feature enhanced custom technologies, including a faster 16-core Neural Engine, and Apple’s powerful media engine. This allows the chips to tackle graphics-intensive projects that competing systems can’t even run, from powering visual effects, to training machine learning models, to stitching together gigapixel images.
“Only Apple is building SoCs like M2 Pro and M2 Max. They deliver incredible pro performance along with industry-leading power efficiency,” said Johny Srouji, Apple’s senior vice president of Hardware Technologies. “With an even more powerful CPU and GPU, support for a larger unified memory system, and an advanced media engine, M2 Pro and M2 Max represent astonishing advancements in Apple silicon.”
The M2 Pro and M2 Max will be available in the new Mac mini and MacBook Pro laptops, respectively, starting from January 17, 2023 (in the US, local pricing and availability in South Africa haS not yet been confirmed).
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